So what this Foire de Lyon is about?
I was planning to write about it earlier. I have visited it on the second day just after it has launched. I was very excited to go there.
You know why, don’t you? I love shopping so the Foire de Lyon should be my ideal place to spend Saturday at. I woke up early in the morning on the weekend (so motivated to go); the weather was pretty bad so I was even more optimistic as the plan was to stay indoors for this event. I got there just after the breakfast and firstly I was nicely surprised that there is no traffic whatsoever. We parked for free as the ticket included a free parking and we went inside the Foire de Lyon. We entered the impressive venue which I have already got to know thanks to the Salon de Vin event. But this time the Foire de Lyon has overtaken much more space and looked very big. I has been divided into different sections, categories and have amazing display of things, products all ranges. I felt overwhelmed! Me – how love shopping I felt I was exposed to so many different things that I go totally distracted and could not buy anything (maybe a good thing sometimes not to spend money but just to do a window shopping) Anyway, let me tell you more about the Foire de Lyon itself.
Foire de Lyon is a real spring event which takes place each year in Lyon and last over a week. This time is is exactly 11 days and it stared on 23rd of March. As I have already mentioning it is located in euroexpo and to get there it has never been easier. You either take a car or Tram T5 and Bus line 100 directly from Lyon. For more details you can get there check out here.To enter the Faire I needed to purchase a ticket which idea I did not understand as why do the charge me to get inside where they want to sell things.
They should be more interested in getting more and more potential consumers and this would have happened if the access was for free. But it wasn’t that bad. The ticket unlimited was 6 euro so that’s fine and the exhibition was impressive so it was worth it.
Ok, about the exhibition – it covered the following halls: 1 / 2.1 / 3.1 / 3.2 / 4.1 / 5 / 6. It was open everyday 10am – 19pm but also they had few nights’ shifts which meant that the show was opened until 22pm on 21, 25 and 28 march
Foire de Lyon has actually a pretty long history which I am going to understand in near future when my French start to exist. In the meantime if you are adventurous you can have a look here.
Nowowdays it is very complex, so you have sections to have a look at and explore, get brouchurs and learn more about from the seller.
These are impressive:
- Section for home, garden, beds&bedrooms&swimming pools, furniture, kitchen etc
- Market section with the small things to buy from around the world: jewellery, scarves, special textiles, ornaments etc
- Real cars section!
- Art – paintings, sculptures, designed clothes
- Clothes, shoes, handbags section – but a bit too expensive, no sale tere!
- Beauty section – so cosmetics, spa & hair products
- Section for drinks & alcohol from over the world
- Adult section – for over 17 years
- Section with the specialities from around France and other countries
- Food corner with the international food from Brasil, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy just to name few and obviously France
I enjoyed especially the food corner which was lively and interesting to see the mixture of cultures and I did like the furniture section to get the idea for the house and the art one – impressive works!
I spent there around 3 hours. They went very quickly and I was pretty busy visiting it. I didn’t buy anything as it was too much for me and also I was not planning on purchasing anything particular. The products have been a very good quality so the price was also higher that is why I think there is not way you can get a goodie out of this. Next time I will collect some money and decide on what I am looking for to buy.
All in all I enjoyed the event but there were few things I didn’t like about the Foire de Lyon:
- Entrance fee (don’t make me pay if you want me to be there and buy!)
- Too many sellers were too intrusive (all wanted to capture our attention and grab me to their stand; call me strange but I don’t like it)
- The live demonstrations – seller showing how to use the night, mop etc I felt like everyone is busy with the housework. I don’t particularly like to watch when people ‘clean’
And the things I like about the Foire de Lyon:
- Big, comprehensive
- Well organized, easy to attend
- Interesting in terms of international sections – I loved it
- LEGO section – not only for kids!
- Work of art which I didn’t expected and liked very much
- Interesting attractions program which i didnt take part in but many people did
- Many things to see, test and enquire the producer (very useful)
- Radio SCOOP of Lyon was entering us with the music, photos and competition to enter
So I have been & I have seen. I think one day is enough for the event. I was planning to come back this week but I think there is no need. I will try to go next year with a different idea in the mind. I will want to compare but also purchase sth so I will be sure to get the proper advice and good quality products, good huh?
